Baltimore IAC
Local Actions and Events
EMERGENCY NUMBERS:
Office (410) 235-7040
Sharon Ceci cell (410)
218-4835
410 218-4835
apcbaltimore@pipeline.com
For Immediate Release
For Information Contact: Sharon Black 410-218-4835
Today Is the 75 Anniversary of the Biggest Public Jobs Program In
History
This Saturday, Unemployed People will Mark the 75 Anniversary of the WPA in
Washington, DC by Demanding a New WPA for Today’s Jobless
On Saturday May 8, at 12 Noon there will be a Rally for A Jobs Program
At the U.S. Dept. Of Labor, 200 Constitution Ave. NW.
After the Rally, there will be a March and Strategy Summit on The Fight for
Jobs at the CWA Building 501 3rd NW.
Today is the anniversary of one of the most significant historical landmarks
in the fight against massive unemployment. This anniversary has great bearing
on the present jobless crisis. Seventy-five years ago today, on May 6 1935,
President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the executive order establishing the
Work Projects Administration, the biggest public jobs program in the history of
the country. Between 1935 and 1941, more than 8 million WPA workers did every
job imaginable from building bridges, schools and hospitals to teaching school
and helping to make migrant worker camps livable.
Unemployed people from across the country will be in Washington, D.C. on
Saturday, May 8 to mark the 75th anniversary of the WPA with a 12 p.m. rally at
the Department of Labor. The central demand of the rally will be for a WPA-type
jobs program for 2010. Most of the speakers at the Labor Department rally will
be unemployed people from places like Detroit, Providence, R.I.; Baltimore and
Newark, N.J.
The unemployment crisis today demands a WPA-like jobs program that is in
every way as ambitious in size and scope as the WPA of the 1930s.
Back in 1935, the country was in the middle of the Depression, with an
official unemployment rate of about 25%. Today, the economy is supposed to be
in recovery, but the unemployment rate including all catagories is still
between 18 percent and 20 percent, and is even greater than that in many parts
of the country. The unemployment rate for African-American youth is upwards of
50%. More significant than the 8 million jobs that were lost because of the
“Great Recession”, there are an estimated 30 million unemployed or
underemployed people in the country today.
After the Labor Department rally, protesters will march to the offices of
the Communication Workers Of America at 501 Third Street NW, for a Strategy
Summit on fighting for a jobs program.
This event is sponsored by the Bail out the People Movement, with the active
support of more than 150 organizations.
May 8th JOBS protest--Good & Bad News from Baltimore
Dear Friends,
The GOOD news! Participation for the May 8th JOBS Protest and National
Strategy Summit on the 75th anniversary of the Works Progress Administration
WPA is growing.
Young people who face the prospect of never even getting a job, and older
workers who now find themselves on the scrap heap after sacrificing years on
the job—are signing up to GET ON THE BUS!
Our city, Baltimore is suffering. Joblessness, foreclosures, evictions, utility
shut offs and service cuts are making life unbearable. The good thing is that
organizing has begun to turn this around; organizing that can give those who
are voiceless and invisible a voice and face.
The BAD news--we don’t have the funds to cover bus seats for all
those who want to go to the May 8th protest in Washington D.C.
We have taken an enormous leap of faith. A bus is reserved. The people are
signing up and donating what they can.
Today an older worker came to our office; he had $3 in his pocket. We explained
that we were encouraging everyone to come regardless of funds. He signed up and
handed over his last $3 to donate towards his seat.
We are counting on you to help change the equation and make all of the news
GOOD by donating funds. Every $15 dollar contribution enables one high school
or college age person to attend, or one unemployed worker to go. $30 pays for
two people, $60 four people and so on.
We believe it can be done!
Please send what you can, as soon as possible.
Thank you,
Sharon Black
For Job Is A Right Campaign
Bailout the People Movement
Please send donations as quickly as possible to:
BOPM c/o
Sharon Black
703 E. 37th St.
Baltimore, Maryland 21218
Make checks and money orders out to: Solidarity Center
DROP ALL CHARGES AGAINST SHARON BLACK-CECI, STEVEN CECI AND PATRICK ALLEN NOW!
STOP POLICE ATTACKS ON ALL POLITICAL ACTIVISTS!
Sign the petition
On the morning of December 9, long-time Baltimore Community activists Sharon Black-Ceci and Steven Ceci were dragged from their home by Baltimore police. The two, long-time leaders in the anti-racist, and poor people’s rights struggle, had been under police surveillance for their political activism. They have each been falsely charged with possession of marijuana with intent to distribute, a felony, and possession of marijuana, a misdemeanor.
On Nov. 14, while both Sharon Black-Ceci and Steven Ceci were attending a workers’ rights conference in NYC, Baltimore police broke down the door of their Baltimore home purportedly based on mysterious and false reports of heroin being sold from their residence. A roommate, Patrick Allen -- who was present at the time of the police break-in -- was arrested and the home was senselessly damaged.
Sharon Black-Ceci and Steven Ceci believe that this is not just an attack on them, but an attack on all activists and organizations that are fighting for a society based on social and economic justice and peace.
A year ago, the Baltimore ACLU revealed that the Baltimore All-Peoples Congress, the organization that Black-Ceci has led for more than a quarter of a century, was named as one of four political groups in Baltimore that the Maryland State Police had been spying on.
Sharon Black-Ceci and Steven Ceci were planning to hold a public event December 9, the evening they were arrested, as a political response to the police attack on their home in mid-November. That event was carried out as a press conference and emergency rally to free the activists.
Sign the petition to demand:
--RELEASE IMMEDIATELY AND DROP ALL CHARGES AGAINST PATRICK ALLEN,
SHARON BLACK AND STEVEN CECI!
--STOP POLICE ATTACKS ON ALL POLITICAL ACTIVISTS!
